Bulldogs, Big Green Sunday at Hanover

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The No. 6 Yale men's hockey
team (8-3-3, 4-1-2 ECAC), takes its four-game unbeaten streak to
Hanover, N.H., on Sunday to take on Dartmouth (3-10-0, 1-6-0) in an
ECAC afternoon contest. The 4 p.m. faceoff at Thompson Arena can be
seen live on dartmouthsports.com.

SERIES VS. GREEN

Yale and Dartmouth have been playing since 1906-07
and the Blue has a 97-85-12 lead heading into the 195th meeting.
The Elis swept the series last year and have taken three of the
last four. The Big Green last won at home, 7-2, on Feb. 23, 2008.

ELIS EARN TIE AT WISCO

Yale's last two trips to the Badger Hockey Showdown
produced overtime draws against perennial national power Wisconsin.
The latest of those outcomes, a 2-2 tie on Jan. 3, came in the
championship game and finished off a great weekend for the
Bulldogs. The game is an OT tie for NCAA records, but the
tournament needed to have a champion. Blake Geoffrion's tally on
the sixth shootout attempt gave the Badgers the hardware in the
last scheduled Showdown. Wisconsin took the shootout 2-1. The Elis
outshot the Badgers 42-22 and had goals from Denny Kearney and
Brian O'Neill. Yale freshman Nick Maricic, who made a few quality,
game-saving stops (one was a clear breakaway), finished with 20
saves. Five straight penalties went against Yale in the middle of
the contest, including consecutive calls that gave the Badgers a
two-man advantage, but Maricic handled the pressure. At the other
end, Scott Gudmandson had 40 stops in a game featuring the nation's
top two scoring teams.

YALE WINS BATTLE OF DOGS

The battle of Bulldogs went to ECAC Hockey when
Yale ended the nation's longest unbeaten streak in a 6-1 win over
No. 11 Ferris State in game one of the Badger Showdown. Sean
Backman's two goals and one assist helped Yale end a 10-game string
by the CCHA team. Yale notched the game's last five goals,
including four in the final frame. Backman had the decisive tally
in the second before adding another in the third period. Other
goals came from O'Neill, Kearney, Broc Little and Chad Ziegler. The
Blue outshot FSU 41-24 while converting two of five man-advantages.
Freshman Jeff Malcolm made 23 saves, including 11 in the middle
frame.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

Nick Maricic was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the
Week after helping the Bulldogs tie No. 7 Wisconsin in the Badger
Hockey Showdown Championship Game. Maricic, an Alta Loma, Calif.,
native who played for the USHL Tri-City (Nebraska) Storm, made 20
saves in the 2-2 overtime tie against the Badgers. He stopped five
of six UW man-advantages, including a 5-on-3, and held the nation's
No. 2 scoring team to a pair of tallies before a large crowd on an
emotional night for folks at the Kohl Center. The Yale rookie owns
a 2.41 goals against average, a .909 save percentage and a 3-1-2
record. His conference honor is Yale's first ECAC rookie award this
winter.

DARTMOUTH

The Big Green has wins over St. Lawrence, Harvard
and Providence and looks to end a four-game skid. Junior F Scott
Fleming leads the team with seven goals and 11 points, while
sophomore Jody O'Neill (.898, 3.65) has handled almost all of the
netminding.

RED LIGHT DISTRICT

The Elis, 6-1-1 since Thanksgiving Day week, have
40 goals in those eight games after tallying 19 times over the
first six contests of 2009-10. Yale has scored six goals or more in
five games this winter compared to four last year. Fifteen
different Bulldogs have lit the lamp to give Yale a 60-38 goal
advantage.

Bulldog Bites

Yale has had 24 skaters suit up for games this year
and all four goalies... Senior G Billy Blase is president of Sigma
Nu (fraternity) and the founder and president of Yale's
Undergraduate Student Entertainment Society... Freshman F Antoine
Laganiere is an accomplished piano player who also plays guitar...
Freshman G Nick Maricic started playing hockey on rollerblades in
Alta Loma, Calif... Freshman F Andrew Miller worked as a lacrosse
coach at Cranbrook Kingswood School in Michigan.

GEOGRAPHIC BALANCE

The Yale roster includes players from 12 different
states and three provinces. The most from a state is two
(California, Connecticut, Illinois and New Hampshire) while six
hail from Alberta, including a Calgary pair.

SHOOTERS

The Bulldogs have outshot opponents in 10 of the 14
games and are 8-1-1 in those outings. The Elis average 38.4 shots
and give up just over 27. In the third period alone, the Blue has a
76-shot advantage.

Powering Play

The Blue managed four PPG over the first six games
and were operating at just over 11 percent efficiency. The Elis
(21.7% for season) are 14-for-50 (28.0) in the last eight games.
Yale's best day on special teams was (4-for-8) at Holy Cross on
Nov. 28.

LAST YEAR AGAINST GREEN

The Blue slipped past the Green 2-1 last January at
Hanover while outshooting the home team 55-30. Broc Little and
Brian O'Neill had the goals while Alec Richards made 29 saves.
Dartmouth came to Ingalls last February and fell 3-1 when the Elis
got goals from Denny Kearney, Matt Nelson and Sean Backman. Jody
O'Neill made 94 saves between the two games for the Green.

Lots of Little

Junior F Broc Little (15-20-35 last year) leads the
Elis with 11 goals. He has a point in all but two games and six
multiple-point outings this season. Little's .79 goals per game
average is second in Division I, while he has the second best GWG
(3) total and is 30th in points per game with 1.21. He led the
nation in SHG with five last winter.

O'NEILL ON TOP

Sophomore F Brian O'Neill, who has points in 10 of
14 games and had the tying goal in the OT draw in the Badger
Showdown title game, leads the team with 19 points. He had 2-1-3 in
the win over Sacred Heart on Nov. 24 and 1-2-3 vs. Ferris State.
O'Neill's 1.36 points per game are ninth in Division I. He made the
CHN (national) and ECAC Hockey All-Rookie teams after going
12-14-26 last winter.

Kearney PRODUCING

Junior F Denny Kearney (6-8-14), who has a point in
11 of 14 games, had two goals in the win over Quinnipiac. He is
second to Mark Arcobello (54) in active career assists with 44.
Kearney (Hanover, NH), who plays in his hometown this weekend, was
in Colorado over the break to watch his sister, Hannah, 2005 world
champion, qualifiy for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver as a
mogul skier.

net mix

Four different Bulldogs have earned a win in net
this season. The Elis have two freshmen, a junior and senior
battling for the top job. Newcomers Nick Maricic (2.41, .909,
3-1-2) and Jeff Malcolm (2.01, .909, 3-1-0), junior Ryan Rondeau
(3.84, .880, 1-1-1) and senior Billy Blase (3 saves, 1-0-0) have
been in net. Rondeau has the top save night with 40 at Princeton,
while Malcolm gave up the fewest (1) goals in a 1-0 loss at UVM.
Maricic, the only Eli goalie who qualifies for the national
rankings, is 25th in GAA among Division I players and is 42nd in
save percentage. Maricic has the most (373) minutes played, Blase,
the only Eli with a collegiate shutout, has the fewest (12).

Backman MOVING UP

F Sean Backman (10-7-17) has 108 points in 107
career games and is fifth at Yale with 66 career goals. Backman,
who trails Mark Kaufmann (69) by three for the No. 4 spot, was
named to the College Hockey News (CHN) 2008-09 Pre-Season
All-America squad. Ding Palmer's 87 career goals between 1927-30
are a long way off. Backman has a point in 10 of 14 outings this
winter and is 12th in Division I with .71 goals per game. He was
second-team All-ECAC last year after leading his team with 20
goals. Backman tallied the team's lone hat trick of the year in a
5-0 win over Cornell that gave the Blue the ECAC Hockey Tournament
Title and made him tournament MVP.

Arcobello Making Point

Senior F Mark Arcobello (3-8-11) was a 2008-09
second-team All-America pick after recording 17-18-35. He has 37
goals and 91 points in three-plus seasons. He is second to Backman
among active career leaders in goals (37) and assists (54).

DIGNARD DRIVING

Senior defenseman Tom Dignard (4-10-14) has 17
career goals, which is fourth on the school charts and a dozen shy
of the record set by Dave Baseggio (29-79-108) between 1985-89.
Dignard needs five goals to catch Darcy Ryan and Ray Giroux (22)
and tie for second. He is seventh among Yale blueliners in career
points with 61, six behind Bill Nichols (67). The current Bulldog
ranks No. 2 in the nation among blueliners with 1.27 points per
game.

Century Mark

Senior F Mark Arcobello has 111 career games
played. Most Eli seniors don't get a glimpse of triple digits until
late in their final campaigns. Teammates F Sean Backman (107) and D
Ryan Donald (103) recently followed Arcobello. All three could
break the record of 125 games shared by Jeff Hamilton ‘01 and
Jeff Hristovski ‘06.

Captain Ryan Donald

Ryan Donald (St. Albert, ALB), a class of 2010
defenseman, is the captain of the 2009-10 Bulldogs. The 6-foot-3,
220-pound Bulldog skater is one of 20 NCAA hockey candidates for
the 2009-10 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the
award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I
senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence -
classroom, character, community and competition. Donald has
compiled a 2.93 grade point average as a political science major at
one of the nation's top universities. He was recognized as a member
of the ECAC All-Academic team in 2009.

CARE TO COMPARE

The 2008-09 Bulldogs enjoyed the best season in the
history of Yale hockey after starting 9-5 overall with 41 goals.
The current Bulldogs have one less victory in its first 14 but have
hit the net 60 times. The Elis were 2-1 against nationally ranked
teams in the first 14 last year, they are 4-2-1 this season.

In the Polls

After bouncing around both major polls for three
idle weeks, Yale is No. 6 on both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine
& USCHO.com lists. Yale's No. 6 ranking in the USCHO poll the
first week of November was the "highest" it had been listed this
season. The Elis' best ranking ever was No. 5 in both polls late
March of 2009. The Bulldogs are 3-0-1 against top 15 teams in the
current USA Today rankings and 3-2-2 vs. top 20 teams in the USCHO
poll. Yale is 4-2-1 against ranked teams this season.

On the Bench

Keith Allain ‘80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace
Head Coach of Hockey, has helped establish the Bulldogs on the
national scene since he joined the program three years ago. In
2008-09 he led Yale to the best season in the program's history. A
school-record 24 wins, Yale's first ECAC Tournament Championship
and a school-best No. 5 national ranking in late March backs up
that statement. The Elis' second ECAC regular-season title, a third
NCAA Tournament appearance and an Ivy League crown confirm the
status of the 2008-09 squad. He was honored by ECAC coaches as
conference coach of the year (Tim Taylor Award) and College Hockey
News named him national coach of the year. This is Allain's 11th
overall year at Yale; he spent four as a student-athlete and goalie
and three as an assistant coach in the 1980s.

Allain QUOTED

"This [2-2 tie with Wisconsin] is a great statement
about where we are at this point in the season. Going on the road
to beat a top 15 team and tie a top 10 team in a tournament
environment will pay dividends for us down the road. It's great to
be back in conference play. We look forward to the ECAC stretch run
and getting better as a team each week."

OFFENSIVE SPREAD

The junior class has contributed 20 goals this
season, two more than the seniors. The sophomores are third with 13
while the newcomers have eight goals and 26 points.

Ingalls Renovations

Dedication night for the renovated Ingalls Rink is
Jan. 16 when the Yale men host Brown after the women play RPI. That
is also alumni day for both squads. The Elis have added 13,000
square feet of varsity operational space. It includes locker rooms,
a strength and conditioning center, student-athlete study area,
training room, officials room, video room, coaches' offices,
equipment room and more. There is a new Schley Room (reception
area), historical displays, a concessions stand and bathrooms.

BULLDOGS ON THE AIR

All Yale home games include live video and audio
streaming. All games from Ingalls can be seen live through Yale's
All Access on yalebulldogs.com. The audio is provided by WYBC
radio, and the broadcast can also be heard on either AM 1340 or on
wybc.com.